Write Your Way

 

Thousands and thousands of stories have been written. The same with essays, memoirs, and poems. Multi-thousands. How does a new writer compete with all that has come before? Our poster today tells us that new writers are too worried that it has all been done before, but not by that one new writer. Or even the writer who has been writing for a while. 

How many times have you heard that there are only seven plots in the world of fiction? Seven! And yet, there are those thousands of books and short stories, all using the basic plots. The ones you'll find listed are the following:

Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Rebirth, Comedy, and Tragedy

Your story will be classified in one of the seven plots. Your story will still be different because you are an individual. You think on your own, you're not going to copy another writer word for word. That's plagiarism, and you don't want to go there. 

If you write a personal essay on grief and sorrow, your experience will be different than that of another writer. Your outlook on what happened will be yours and yours alone. 

You've probably read the advice of editors to write on a popular subject, but find a different angle. Use your personal perspective to create something new and fresh. 

If you have settled in with your own voice, whatever you write will distinguish you from another writer. Your voice, or your style of writing, should be unique. All yours. Yours alone. 

Consider a situation where a high school English teacher assigns an essay on College Ambitions. There are 28 students in her class. She is going to receive 28 essays all on the same topic, yet all quite different. Each student will put their own personal spin on the topic.

When you're told to find a different angle on a topic, it may take some effort on your part to come up with something new, but worth it if you come up with a fresh look on an old subject. No one has ever said writing is easy. It is not. But, there are great rewards in being published, in being satisfied with what you have written, and in growing as a writer. So, go for it!